In Gruber v. The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 2025 ONSC 3088, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice was asked to interpret the will of Yaacov Glickman, a deceased academic who left his entire estate to support Jewish-Arab academic cooperation through an “endowment” at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. The estate trustee, concerned about ambiguity in the testamentary language and the risk of the gift failing for uncertainty, brought an application for advice and directions. Justice Papageorgiou ultimately upheld the

Ontario courts take issues of mental capacity seriously, particularly when it affects a person’s ability to manage property, make personal care decisions, or instruct legal counsel. Two distinct—but occasionally overlapping—legal tools are available to the court in these situations: A mental health examination under section 105 of the Courts of Justice Act, often used to assess whether a party is a “person under disability” in litigation; and A capacity assessment under section 79 of the Substitute Decisions Act, 1992,

Estate trustees can be held personally liable for legal costs if their actions are found to be self-serving or contrary to the estate’s best interests. As confirmed in MacBeth Estate v. MacBeth, 2025 ONCA 360, trustees who pursue unnecessary litigation or appeals may be denied indemnity from the estate and ordered to pay costs personally. The Ontario Court of Appeal upheld an order removing two estate trustees and ordered them to personally pay $21,000 in costs, finding that their

In Morden v. Niwranski, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice examined whether joint investment accounts held by a deceased man and his common law partner were subject to a resulting trust in favour of his estate or whether they passed to the surviving partner by right of survivorship. The Court ruled in favour of the respondent, holding that the presumption of resulting trust had been rebutted. 2. The Facts Giuseppe Lagana died intestate in January 2021. He held a

Case Analysis: Balkisson v. Sandy (2025 ONSC) Introduction The case of Balkisson v. Sandy (2025 ONSC, January 14, 2025) addresses a family dispute over the ownership of a residential property, raising critical questions about resulting trusts and gifts in the context of gratuitous property transfers between a parent and adult children. The applicant, Veronica Ann Balkisson, sought a declaration that her son, Stefan Sandy, held title to a property at 78 Lambeth Street, Brampton, as a bare trustee for

Can a Court Appoint a Professional Trustee and Validate a Contested Codicil When Named Trustees Fail to Administer Estates for Decades? ANSWER: Yes, a court can appoint a professional trustee and validate a contested codicil when named trustees fail to administer estates for decades, as demonstrated in MacKinnon v. MacKinnon, 2025 ONSC 2426. The Ontario Superior Court exercised its authority under sections 5(1) and 37(1) of the Trustee Act to pass over incapacitated and inactive trustees, appointing George Morison

Case Analysis: Khosravi v. Mohammadi et al, 2025 ONSC 2697 Introduction The case of *Khosravi v. Mohammadi et al*, 2025 ONSC 2697 addresses a dispute over the estate of Mahdyar Mohammadi, who passed away intestate in November 2023. The applicant, Somayeh Khosravi, the deceased’s common-law spouse, sought partition and sale of a co-owned property, distribution of 50% of the proceeds, and reimbursement for funeral and carrying costs. The respondents, the deceased’s parents, contested the distribution and reimbursement, raising issues

Case: Estate of Laura Jeanne Helwig, Deceased, 2025ONSC  Case Introduction In an unreported decision heard on April 30, 2025, by the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, the estate of a deceased vendor sought a vesting order to register a property transfer impeded by the Director of Titles’ policy against “zombie deeds.” Presided over by Justice FL Myers, the case, Estate of Laura Jeanne Helwig, Deceased, addresses the conflict between Ontario’s land title principles, which vest title upon deed delivery,

Case Analysis: Prosser v. Jaun, 2025 ONSC 2634 Overview In Prosser v. Jaun, 2025 ONSC 2634, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice addressed a motion for production of solicitors’ files in a dispute over an alleged secret trust concerning a Silver Islet cottage. The applicant, the son of the deceased, claimed that his mother and stepfather created a secret trust to benefit him in the cottage. He sought access to his mother’s and stepfather’s legal files to substantiate this